Whispers to Screams (Lesbian) (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 2

"Valeriya?" Reed asked softly, knocking at her door. "You awake?"

She had in fact been awake for a couple of hours now, but she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed. Valeriya had exhausted herself over the course of night with crying and trying not to have a full on anxiety attack, which proved to be incredibly hard. If Reed saw her like that she'd never hear the end of it, but she was glad she still had someone who cared for her. Hopefully Toni was watching over her too, wherever she was now. Hearing Reed on the other side of the door caused her to stir a little, but not enough to even sit up.

"I'm awake." She called back. "I'll be down soon, remember bl-"

"Black coffee, I know. It's already ready and sitting on the counter. Hurry though! I want you to help me sift through the article I showed you yesterday, I think there's definitely something hidden in there." Reed reassured before Valeriya heard her walking down the hall and then making her way down the stairs.

"Mmm..." The Russian woman moaned, rolling onto her side, and then turning over the other way. "You can do it, come on. Sit up." She told herself, pushing with her arms off the mattress. It was a slow and gradual process, much more difficult than it needed to be, but she did it. Soon she was standing at the edge of her bed, looking around the attic room. It was dark, but she liked it that way. It felt like the days she spent there alone with Toni, mostly in bed; laughing, talking, and whatever else they happened to decide to do at the time.

It was so amazing how she was able to get up everyday and push it all away, amazing and surprising. Most days she didn't want to leave the house, much less her bedroom. Running her establishment assisted in helping her forget for a short time, it was enough to help her keep going, even though she didn't want to. How awful, just fucking terrible, was it that the one person who could change your entire life, meaning of life, and view of the world was taken from you? The person who showed you the meaning of love and the depths of it's feelings, just disappears before your eyes. Usually these thoughts wouldn't burn so deep, but with the weight of yesterday, and the work of today, Valeriya just couldn't help it. It made it feel like her insides were doing cartwheels, that her heart was being weighed down by boulders.

A lot of people probably wondered why she still stayed in a house with the cousin of her dead lover, but what did they know? Reed was now the only real family she had left. She needed someone like that in her life, someone to take care of her, and Reed was always ready and willing to help. It was a little overwhelming sometimes, and shocking. When Valeriya witnessed Toni get shot that night she ran, she'd never forgive herself for doing it, but she ran to Reed. Leaving Toni alone for as long as she did made her feel sick inside but she needed to get Reed to help her figure it all out. Sentinal was dead, sure, but where did that leave them?

The gun pointed directly at her head, causing her to submit into a kneel with her arms raised in the air.

"What do you mean she's dead?!" Reed yelled, shakily holding the personal pistol she kept for defense purposes.

"S-Sentinal shot her... Then I shot him. We have to go back!" Valeriya rose up, causing Reed to tighten the grip on her gun. "We have to get her out of there..." She cried.

Reed stayed put for several moments before Valeriya's meltdown finally convinced her that what she was saying was true. Sure, she was still suspicious, but she knew Valeriya to at least some kind of degree now, and she didn't seem to be lying.

"Okay." She finally came to, lowering the gun and stepping forward towards the front door where Valeriya was crumpled. "Show me what happened..."

The Sun was abnormally bright today, causing the Russian to grumble as she hopped down the stairs. Her petit form made her practically soundless, but Reed always knew when she was coming. She could hear the creak in the kitchen floor where Reed was no doubt making some kind of mess on the stove that she would pass off as breakfast.

"So," she called out. "I started working through that article without you, because you were too slow, and found something interesting."

"She's gone! Where the hell is she, what did you do to her?!" Reed all but screamed at Valeriya, spinning around frantically trying to find some hint or clue of Toni's whereabouts. Even the blood stains were bleached, still being set with the clear, potent liquid.

Valeriya was speechless, her blue orbs darting this way and that as she tried to register what was going on. Where did she go...? She was just here! "She was just here... There!" She pointed to a bubbling wet patch on the floor. "Her body was there..."

"What did you find?" She smiled as she walked into the kitchen, towards Reed. Seeing now the attempted food that she was no doubt going to try and convince her to eat. No.

"Do you remember how we read that Ms. Barinova got that silly 'Black Widow' nickname?" She said, scooping some of her mess onto a plate and getting a fork.

"Yes..." Valeriya drolled, sitting down at their small dining table.

"Well," Reed took a bite and immediately made a discontented face. "Turns out she wasn't exactly the one to kill them."

This made Valeriya freeze. Was she hiring someone to kill them? In Russia? "What do you mean? Like an assassin?" She turned her gaze onto the information broker who only shrugged.

"I'm not entirely sure yet, I have some more digging to do, but I do know that these are all hired kills. She took something from all of them, then had them offed." Reed always became excited when talking about a discovery she made or came across, it was refreshing for Valeriya. She definitely needed the good vibes. It made her feel a little better, too.

"Well, we have all day." The Russian smiled, reaching over and grabbing her cup of coffee off of the counter and wrapping her dainty hands around it. She took short sips, but it wasn't too hot. "Perhaps there's a connection there. I remember that when I was staying with Toni... Barinova caused her many problems."

Reed paused her eating and looked at Valeriya, any time that she talked about Toni was to be cherished. It was the only way to actually gauge how she felt.

"She almost k-killed her once." Valeriya continued, "Shot at her, hit her, and made her fall out of a two story window. When Toni got back to the apartment she looked like utter hell, told me that Barinova knew about her before the hit was even put out. The old crone is widely hated to begin with... What could she have done?"

"What could who have done?" Reed wondered outloud, having set her plate of slop down and crossing her arms over her midsection.

"Toni." She confirmed, "What could Toni have done to garner the hate of someone so powerful and widespread?"

The look in Valeriya's eyes made Reed go silent, she looked so broken, like she absolutely needed to find answers as to why this all happened, and how she could fix it, but she couldn't. Not like this. It all washed over her so quickly, Valeriya didn't even realize that she started to cry again. Not until Reed rushed over and enveloped her in a breath hitching hug. It took everything in her not to scream, after a year of holding back that's all she wanted to do.

"We can do this." Reed said sternly. "We'll eliminate everyone responsible, do you hear me?" She tightened her hold on Valeriya, who only could find herself falling deeper into the embrace and sobbing.

"I'm sorry..." Valeriya said softly. "I should've done more to prevent all of this."

"No, you've done a great job! You single handedly gave us the resources we both needed to wipe them out. We can do this, Val. Have some faith." Reed's everflowing river of reassurance always helped, in one small way or another. "Now come on, we have work to do."